Hinged box

ABSTRACT

A hinged box which has two hinges protruding from the back of the box, each hinge member being composed of five interlocking ball elements on studs extending from the back of the box, two ball elements of each hinge member are on the back side of one part of the box and two ball elements of the other hinge member are on the same part of the box but on a different side of the back, each ball of the said two ball element pairs have two grooves extending across opposite faces of each ball element, at least halfway but not entirely across, which provide pockets for each ball of the three ball pairs protruding from the back side of another part of the box whereby the pair of five ball elements are locked securely together in a rotatable position to form a pair of hinges. A further improvement in the hinged box comprises longitudinal cylindrical bar-like members which protrude from the back of one section of the box and rest in grooves on the back side of the other section of the box. This construction adds strength and stiffness to the hinge without impairing the smooth action of the hinge when opening and closing the lid on the box.

United States Patent [1 1 Mulligan [4 Feb. 18, 1975 HINGED BOX [75] Inventor: Robert J. Mulligan, Wheaton, ill.

[73] Assignee: Richardson-Merrell Inc., New York, I

22 Filed: Ocl.27, 1970 211 App]. No.: 84,429

Primary Examiner-George E. Lowrance Attorney, Agent, or Firm-George W. Rauchfuss, Jr.; Eugene O. Retter [57] ABSTRACT A hinged box which has two hinges protruding from the back of the box, each hinge member being composed of five interlocking ball elements on studs extending from the back of the box, two ba'll elements of each hinge member are on the back side of one part of the box and two ball elements of the other hinge member are on the same part of the box but on a different side of the back,- each ball of the said two ball element pairs have two grooves extending across opposite faces of each ball element, at least halfway but not entirely across, which provide pockets for each ball of the three ball pairs protruding from the back side of another part of the box whereby the pair of five ball elements are locked securely together in a rotatable position to form a pair of hinges. A further improvement in the hinged box comprises longitudinal cylindrical bar-like members which protrude from the back of one section of the box and rest in grooves on the back side of the other section of the box. This construction adds strength and stiffness to the hinge without impairing the smooth action of the hinge when opening and closing the lid on the box.

2 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATEHTED QE SHEET 1 [)F 2 FIG.'3

INVENTOR I BY 4v. W I K ATTORNEY PME FEB 18 Isis] SHEET 2 or 2 INVENTOR Y 5 Lu, W

4M7 ATTORNEY HINGED BOX This invention relates to hinged boxes made by injection molding of thermoplastic material.

Many different types and kinds of hinged boxes have been designed and are being used in commerce. A particularly desirable type of hinged box is one in which the top and bottom sections of the box are identical so that one mold may be used to form the two sections of the box by injection molding of a thermoplastic material. Examples of such hinged boxes are described and claimed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. of G. H. Hake, 2,570,341 of Oct. 9, 1951, G. Svoboda et al., 3,061,137 of Oct. 30, 1962, and G. Svoboda et al., 3,179,281 of Apr. 20, 1965. An improved bifurcated hinged box of such type is described and claimed in my copending patent application, Ser. No. 84,364, filed of even date herewith. As will be noted on examination of the Svoboda et a1. patents, the members of the hinge consist of spherical or ball shaped members on the end of studs which protrude from the back of the two parts of the box and interlock to provide a pair of hinges. In U.S. Pat. 3,061,137, each of the two hinges is made up of three ball-like members in which the central ball member is provided with grooves on opposite sides of the ball extending at right angles to each other into which two outwardly extending smaller ball shaped members in transversely aligned relation are received and held in place in the grooves. This hinge requires a low tolerance in the dimensions of the ball members and even when accurately made the hinge is undesirably loose and the cover of the box will not stay in a partially opened position. Also, as will be apparent, if one of the ball members breaks, which is a common'occurrence, the hinge will no longer hold together.

An improvement of the Svoboda et al. hinged box of U.S. Pat. No. 3,061,137 is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,179,281. In this hinged box the hinge members are made up of four ball-like members in which one ofthe balls has a pair of continuous grooves extending at right angles to each other on opposite faces and another ball has one groove extending across its face. As in the case of the three-ball hinge of U.S. Pat. No. 3,061,137, low tolerance must be maintained in order for the hinge to hold together and, likewise, if one of the ball members should break off from the back of the box the hinge becomes practically worthless.

In addition to the fact that the three and four member ball hinges ofthe Svoboda et al. patents provide a loose hinge which is easily damaged, the protruding ball members tend to catch on items which may be in a mans pocket or a womans purse in which the box may be carried. Also, the protruding balls make the box more difficult to handle in manufacturing and automatic filling operations, and when it is desired that the box be overwrapped with thin papers, foil or plastic wrapping material, the protruding hinges tend to tear through the overwrap.

The hinged box of my above-mentioned copending U.S. pat. application is also of bifurcated construction, that is, the upper and lower parts of each of the two sections of the box are identical in construction. The hinge elements, however, as distinguished from Svoboda, are characterized by having, on each section of the box, three protruding ball members on one side of the box and two protruding ball members on the other side. When the two sections of the box are reversed, the ball members fit together to provide two hinges, each having five ball elements. The new hinge of the present invention has the same advantages of greater strength, stiffness, appearance, and so on, of the hinge of my copending patent application. The new hinged box of the present invention also has the advantage in that the assembled box may be wrapped with thin wrapping material without having the protruding hinge elements, as in the Svoboda et a1. and Hake patcnts, penetrate and tear the overwrap.

The new hinged box of the present invention, although not of bifurcated construction, has advantages not found in the hinged box of my copending patent application. For example, if it is desired that the two sections of the box be of a different color, a bifurcated box in which the top and bottom sections are of identical construction will, when assembled, form a box in which the cylindrical members of the hinge are of different colors. This is considered undesirable in some instances.

The new structure of the present invention also makes it possible to design a box in which the parts of the latching mechanism are not of identical structure. For instance, the latch can be of such construction that the lower element of the latch is recessed below the top of one section, whereas the other member of the latch can extend beyond the edge of the box.

Probably the most important advantage of the hinge of the box of the present invention lies in the ease with which it is assembled. As stated in my copending application, the hinge is formed by simply pressing two sections of the box together by hand or in automatic equipment with a roller or similar device. However, it has been found that the horizontal members 20 and 20' of the box of that copending application tend to engage each other before the hinge is fully assembled unless the two sections of the box are in exact alignment. This makes assembling the hinge difficult with automatic machinery. This annoying problem is not encountered when assembling the hinge of the present invention since the horizontal elements 20 and 20' of the box of the copending application are replaced by a single element, 20, as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the hinged box in a closed position;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the box in an open position;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the rear of the box taken in the direction of the arrows 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of the two sections of the hinged box separated by a short distance;

FIG. 5 is a partial elevational view showing the five elements of one of the hinges taken from the rear of the box with the two parts of the box separated;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of one of the hinges taken from the rear as the two sections of FIG. 5 are being assembled;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the five ball elements which make up one of the hinges of the box after it has been assembled, taken from the rear of the box;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional elevation taken on the line 88 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional elevation taken on line 99 of FIG. 1.

The hinged box of the present invention consists of a top member 1 and a bottom member 2. The thickness of each of these members may vary, depending upon the desired capacity of the box. They may be the same or different thicknesses. In the drawings a relatively thin box is shown.

One section of the box has, on the back edge thereof, two sets of hinge elements which, as shown in FIG. 4, consist of ball elements 3, 4 and 5 at one side of the box and 3', 4 and 5' at the other side of the box at the back. The other member of the box has two sets of ball members protruding from the back of the box indicated in FIG. 4 as 6, 7 and 6,7'. These ball-like elements are attached to the main body of the box by studs, indicated in FIG. 5 by 8, 9 and 10 on one of the two sections of the box and 11 and 12 on the other section of the box. The diameter of the balls and the length and direction of the outwardly extending studs should be such that the center line of the several ball members falls in a plane formed by the edges of the box 14 and 15.

The ball elements 6 and 7 have grooves as shown in the enlarged view FIG. 7. In a preferred embodiment these grooves are at right angles to the plane formed by the inner edges 14 of the box as shown in FIG. 5. The

grooves do not extend all the way across a chord of the ball element as do the grooves in ball members of the Svoboda et al. patents. These grooves, or recesses, may run in the same direction as shown in the drawing or, if desired, the outermost grooves 16 and 17 of balls 6 and 7 may be at right angles to the innermost grooves 16' and 17'. As will be seen from FIG. 7, one of the grooves 16 in ball 6 extends part way across a chord of ball 6 in one direction, whereas the other groove 16 extends part way across the face of the ball but starting in a different direction. Similarly, ball 7 has two grooves, the innermost groove 17' starting from the same position on the ball member 7 as does groove 16' start on ball 6. As will be seen, the ball members 6 and 7 are not deflected when ball member 4 is pressed into the grooves as shown in FIG. 6. Ball members 3, 4 and 5 do not have any grooves. In every instance the grooves 16, l6, l7 and 17 have a semi-circular profile to match the diameter of ball members 3, 4 and 5 and the bottommost section of the groove extends halfway across the ball so that when ball members 3, 4 and 5 are seated all of the ball members are in transverse alignment as shown in FIG. 7.

The two sections of the box are hinged together by pressing the top and bottom sections of the box together as is obvious from FIGS. 5 and 6. The top and bottom sections of the box, regardless of their particular thickness, may be aligned and pressed together either by hand or by passing the two sections through a roller or similar device. As will be seen in FIG. 6, ball elements 3 and 5 are sprung apart a short distance in order to clear the edge of the groove 16 in ball 6 and the groove 17 in ball 7 when the two sections of the box are forced together. The elasticity of the thermoplastic resin making up the box permits outwardly extending stud members 8 and 10 to deflect without breaking when ball members 6 and 7 are forced between the three ball members 8, 9 and 10 to provide a hinged structure as shown in enlarged view FIG. 7.

If it is desired that the hinged members be assembled by pressing the two parts of the box together in a different direction than just described, the direction of the grooves in the ball members may be adjusted accordingly. For example, the innermost grooves 16 and 17' may be at right angles to those shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and the two sections of the box may be assembled by laying the two parts back to back with top and bottom lying on a smooth surface and pressing them together while the two parts of the box are in a fully opened position.

As will be obvious on consideration of the drawings, if any one of the ball members should break off, the remaining members will continue to function to help provide a relatively stiff hinge which will hold the cover of the box in an opened position when the cover is lifted.

The hinges just described are substantially stronger than those of the Svoboda or the Hake patented structures. For example, when the box of the present invention is fully opened it takes I percent more force to pull the hinge apart than in the case of the four ball Svoboda hinge. When the box is overfilled and strain is placed on the hinges when an effort is made to close the lid, the hinge of the present invention is 200 percent stronger than the Svoboda hinges.

Although the foregoing structure represents an advance in the art over the three and four-ball hinges of Svoboda, for reasons pointed out above, it may be further improved by the addition of other structural elements not suggested by the structures of prior art hinges.

As will be noted, particularly in FIG. 4, the back of one section of the box may have outwardly extending solid cylindrical members 20, 21 and 22. These members have essentially the same diameter as the ball members mentioned above. The cylindrical members protrude from the back section of the box as shown in FIG. 8, so that the axis of the solid cylindrical members are in transverse alignment with the ball members when the two sections of the box are closed as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. Also, the back of the other part of the box has grooves 24, 25 and 26 which are of the same length as the cylindrical members 20, 21 and 22, respectively. Accordingly, when the two sections of the box are snapped together, the cylindrical member 20 will fit into groove 24, cylindrical member 21 will fit into groove 25 and member 22 will fit into groove 26. As will be apparent, the box is easier to assemble than is the box of my copending application, as it does not have the two elements 20 and 20 to interfere with each other.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 88 of FIG. 3 showing how one of the cylindrical members fits into the groove. The coaction of the cylindrical members closely fitting into the grooves as just described and the interlocking ball members provide a hinge that is exceptionally strong and stable. The back edge of the box is relatively smooth and the hinge members do not stick out and catch on objects. The box can be wrapped with thin wrapping material without danger of having the hinge members puncturing it because they protrude from the back of the box.

Because the two parts of the box are made in different molds and are not, therefore, indentical, as in my copending application, the latching mechanism may be of two differently constructed elements, which makes it possible to design a latching means in which the lower part of the latch is below the edge 15 of the box, as shown in FIG. 9. This construction is preferred by many users of the box, since it does not stick up and tend to catch on objects as they are placed in or removed from the box. The hinge element 32 of the upper box may, when the box is assembled, enter into the lower part of the box as shown in FIG. 9.

The hinged box of the present invention may be pro vided with a latch of any conventional type. However, inasmuch as many of the common latches protrude from the face of the box, the parts of the latch also present a problem of catching on clothes and rupturing thin wrappings that may be applied to the box. Accordingly, the box of the present invention may have means of shielding the latch so that it will not catch on clothes or tear thin wrapping material.

To protect the latch from exposure and also to make it easier to open the hinged box with the fingers, protruding sections 30 and 31 of FIGS. 2 and 9 may be provided on the face of the box which carries the latching means. These two protruding sections are preferably identicaL Although in the particular design shown in the drawings wherein the protruding section curves outwardly from the ends of the box to a maximum at the center, it will be understood that this outwardly protruding section may run the full length of the box, thus making overwrapping with thin wrapping material easier while at the same time protecting the latch of whatever type may be used and providing an easy grip for the fingers to open the box.

'As indicated above, the hinged box of the present invention is preferably made by injection molding of a thermo-plastic material. These plastics ordinarily have sufficient resiliency to permit the stud members which terminate in ball members 3 and 5 to be deflected slightly as shown in FIG. 6. Suitable plastics include cellulose acetate, cellulose butyrate, polystyrene, polymethacrylates, polyvinylcarbonates and many other conventionally used plastics which are stiff but not brittle and do have a small degree of resiliency.

What is claimed is:

1. A hinged box having a body section and a cover section with two hinge members each comprising 5 ball-like elements which terminate on studs extending outwardly from the back sections of the box, the center line of said five ball elements being on a line parallel to the back of the box and in a plane formed by the inner edges of the body section and cover section of the box, two pairs of said ball elements of each hinge member protruding from one section of said box, and three ball elements of each hinge member protruding from the other section of said box, each ball of the two ball element members having two grooves extending only part way across the chord of the ball, the bottommost section of each groove extends halfway across each ball element, the two innermost grooves of each of said two ball elements being parallel and running in the same direction, the grooves on each of the outer-most faces of the said two ball elements being parallel to each other but starting across the ball elements from a different direction than do the grooves on the other side of the balls.

2. A hinged box in accordance with claim 1 in which one of the body sections thereof has three protruding cylindrical bar-like members which are parallel to the back of the box and the other section of said box having complementary grooves molded along the back of the box into which the protruding cylindrical bar members may fit in rotatable position, the longitudinal axis of said protruding cylindrical bar members coinciding with the center line of the five ball members protruding from the back of the box. 

1. A hinged box having a body section and a cover section with two hinge members each comprising 5 ball-like elements which terminate on studs extending outwardly from the back sections of the box, the center line of said five ball elements being on a line parallel to the back of the box and in a plane formed by the inner edges of the body section and cover section of the box, two pairs of said ball elements of each hinge member protruding from one section of said box, and three ball elements of each hinge member protruding from the other section of said box, each ball of the two ball element members having two grooves extending only part way across the chord of the ball, the bottommost section of each groove extends halfway across each ball element, the two innermost grooves of each of said two ball elements being parallel and running in the same direction, the grooves on each of the outer-most faces of the said two ball elements being parallel to each other but starting across the ball elements from a different direction than do the grooves on the other side of the balls.
 2. A hinged box in accordance with claim 1 in which one of the body sections thereof has three protruding cylindrical bar-like members which are parallel to the back of the box and the other section of said box having complementary grooves molded along the back of the box into which the protruding cylindrical bar members may fit in rotatable position, the longitudinal axis of said protruding cylindrical bar members coinciding with the center line of the five ball members protruding from the back of the box. 